It has been nearly a year since three young men were killed by an alleged drunk driver in Beaumont. Now, a three day memorial is underway in their honour.
The BKT memorial honours Bradley Arsenault, Kole Novak, and Thaddeus Lake, who were killed last November.
“It’s a weekend to remember the boys, and to do everything that they loved to do,” says Karmia Novak, Kole’s younger sister.
The three day event kicked off Saturday at the Beaumont skatepark, in honour of Kole.
“My son Kole was an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, but it was a little too early in the year to do something on the snow hill so, we’re at the skatepark today,” says Kole’s dad Zane Novak.
On Sunday, participants will be playing soccer, in honour of Bradley who was a team player who loved to play soccer.
“I think Brad would really think this was something,” says Bradley’s mother Sheri Arsenault adding, “They have a seniors team playing soccer tomorrow and he would howl!”
On Monday, the memorial will wrap up with a barbeque and performances by a number of local musicians, in honour of Thaddeus.
“Thaddeus, who was the other boy that was with them, he was pretty much a virtuoso musician,” says Zane adding, “It’s kind of a little bit of a tribute to each one of the boys’ personalities.”
People involved with the BKT memorial have two main goals in mind. First, they want to bring awareness to the consequences of drinking and driving.
“We’re hoping to be able to do something that will prevent people from making that fatal decision,” Zane explains.
He says the Canadian legal system is flawed and more needs to be done to impaired drivers who kill.
“We think that it’s really, pretty pitiful right now what does occur to an individual, such as the alleged drunk who killed our three boys. We want society to take it more seriously.”
Saturday’s event coincides with new legislation in Alberta, that hands out stiffer penalties to those caught driving impaired. Anyone caught with a blood alcohol content between .05 and .08 will immediately have their license and vehicle taken away for three days.
“I’m thrilled with that, I believe it will cut fatalities,” says Sheri.
Karmia says the changes are positive however, more needs to be done.
“It’s going to take a lot more. It’s going to be never ending, we need to keep fighting but, these are the first steps and they’re big and i’m hoping they’re really going to help.”
The second thing those involved in the memorial hope to do is honour the memories of the three young men, their friendship, love of life, and respect they had for their community.
“We want to build something substantial and tangible, somewhere we can go and we can sit and it has the boys names dedicated to them. We are hoping for a park,” says Karmia.
“(It) would have the boys names, Bradley, Kole and Thaddeus, so it would be somewhere we can remember the boys for years and years,” adds Zane.
Everyone involved just wants to raise as much awareness around the dangers of drinking and driving as possible.
“To me that’s a powerful legacy for my son to live behind is that we made change so that no other families have to go through this, because I believe change can happen,” says Sheri.
“I don’t want anybody, ever to go through what we’ve gone through and are going through,” adds Zane.
“All we’re trying to do is turn tragedy into something magical, and something beautiful, and something where people feel they can come together and be together and smile. All I want are smiles,” adds Karmia.
With files from Jenna Bridges.